>52 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
April 17, 1909. 
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Sdifopial. 
ExpmmewU wUh ?ota\os. 
During the past year some field experi¬ 
ments were carried out by the Shropshire 
and Staffordshire County Councils in their 
respective districts and at the Harper 
Adams Agricultural College, Newport, 
Salop, and they now issue a joint report 
for 1908. They carried out various other 
experiments,, but those in connection with 
Potatos may prove serviceable to some of 
our readers. One of the experiments was 
to test whether sprouted or unsprouted 
seed gave the best results, and Potatos 
-which had been sprouted in boxes pre¬ 
vious to planting gave a total of 12 tons 
13 cwts. to the acre, whereas those that 
were not sprouted gave 11 tons i6| cwts. 
Another important experiment was the 
comparing of the value of seed from 
different parts of the United Kingdom. 
The three varieties employed were British 
Queen, Factor and Up-to-Date. Some of 
the plots were planted with seeds from 
Scotland, others from Ireland, and some 
that had been grown in England. There 
were also plots in which immature,seeds 
or sets were employed to test them against 
those that had been fully matured before 
being dug. British Queen and Factor 
from Dumfries gave the_highest returns, 
■while Cork gave a return of 17 tons 3 cwts. 
of Up-to-Date to the acre. British Queen 
produced a total of 13 tons 3J cwts. to the 
acre, while Factor gave 17 tons 6 cwts. 
to the acre. 
Immature seed from Salop gave smal¬ 
ler returns than the above in the case of 
British Queen, but immature seed from 
Salop gave a return of 19 tons 10 cwts. 
of The Factor. The highest return of all 
was 20 tons 3 cwts. per acre of Up-to-Date 
from .Dumfries. Immature seed, both 
from Ireland and Scotland, gave a smal¬ 
ler return, while immature seed from 
Salop dropped down to 12 tons 13^ cwts. 
Mature seed from Salop in each case gave 
a smaller return than seed of any kind 
from any other quarter. For instance. 
British Queen only gave 5 tons 9^ cwts. ; 
the Factor gave 12 tons 85 cwts.; Up-to- 
Date gave 8 tons 19^ cwts. Thus we see 
that mature seed should be avoided from 
English grown seed, as the warmer and 
dryer climate seems to affect the vigour 
of Potatos grown under the climatic con¬ 
ditions. 
These facts would point to the value of 
the old custom of digging up Potatos 
before they are fully mature and allowing 
them to become green upon the ground 
before storing them. This used to be verv 
frequently practised by gardeners, and 
when the same practice has been carried 
out on a scientific principle the correct¬ 
ness of the old practice is thus fully 
established. 
While the Potatos were growing little 
difference could be seen in the stems or 
foliage during the month of May, but by 
the middle of June the contrast was well 
marked. The haulm or stems and foliage 
of Irish and Scotch Potatos grown from 
immature seed were much stronger and 
darker in colour than those grown from 
mature seed. In the latter case the foli¬ 
age assumed quite a yellowish hue to¬ 
wards the end of July and produced very 
few flowers, whereas the Potatos grown 
from immature seed were in full bloom 
and presented a healthy appearance. 
British Queen grown from mature seed 
was quite ripe by the end of August, fully 
a fortnight before the others. From one 
point of view this might be considered an 
advantage, but then as the growing season 
was thus greatly reduced the crop was 
correspondingly lighter. 
In one set of experiments all the sprouts 
were retained upon the seed, while in 
other plots only the strongest sprout at 
the top end of the Potato was retained. 
In the latter case there was a difference 
of nearly a ton to the acre, but nearly 
two tons extra of marketable Potatos. 
It is' advisable then to allow' only one 
strong sprout to grow from the seed, as 
this gives the larger number of most 
useful Potatos. 
]Vlakir?g Lawns front? Seed. 
Although a lawn can be more speedily 
formed by laying turves than by sowing 
seeds, the latter method produces by far 
the best results, as it is very seldom that 
turf can be obtained free from weeds and 
rank coarse grasses. In the formation of 
a lawn, either by sowing seeds of laying 
turves, the initial point to be considered 
is the drainage of the ground. A porous 
subsoil, such as sand or gravel, is usually 
sufficient to provide effective drainage 
without the aid of artificial means, but in 
other cases, and especially where the soil 
is of a clayey, peaty or retentive nature, 
it is advisable that some system of drain¬ 
age should be adopted. 
Agricultural drain pipes are necessary 
in dealing with very wet ground, and 
should be laid in the form of a main drain 
-with branches on one or both sides, ac¬ 
cording to the extent of the lawn, as 
shown in Fig. 1 herewith. The branch 
drains should be from twelve to fifteen 
feet apart, and the main drain be carried 
to a convenient outlet, whilst the whole 
of the pipes should be given a fall of 
about 1 in 40 towards the outlet, and be 
laid at an average depth of three feet be¬ 
low the surface. 
Small spaces should be left between 
the pipes as shown in Fig. 3 to allow the 
water to pass into them, and, if about 
Lawn Making. 
